NEWSLETTER
Koyie Hill spelled Chicago Cubs starting catcher Geovany Soto last night, and came up with three hits, bringing his season average up to .318. Soto, by contrast, is hitting just .119.
But there’s no way there’s any kind of catcher controversy, right? I mean, Soto is the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Hill is the reigning…um… guy who couldn’t make the Majors until he was, like, 30… of the year.
Manager Lou Piniella isn’t exactly putting controversy speculation to bed.
”I don’t think [Soto’s struggle] has anything to do with the sophomore slump,” Piniella said, ”but sometimes with a young player, rather than battling it out, you get him out of there to relax, give him a little time to get himself together.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
No, I agree it doesn’t sound like Lou is giving up on Soto or moving the two into a rotation. But it does sound like we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of Koyie Hill over the next few days, if not weeks. And if he keeps hitting, it could be longer.
For his part, Soto tows the company line.
”All I can say is I’m here ready for whenever he needs me,” said Soto, who said his at-bats have improved over the last week or so and that he feels close to working out of his slump.
Going to be hard to work out of his slump from the bench, but that might be where he has to do it.
